My father just got a $63,000 bill for an angioplasty...

[amjsjc]

Fortunately he has health insurance... But good God, imagine the situation he'd be in if he didn't! Nationalized health care/insurance NOW!

[Bluebear]

1. Hear, hear. Best wishes to dad for a good recovery.

[napsi]

2. Your dad's Insurnace Co.

is getting ripped off. I had the procedure in May. The total cost was less than $28,000 including Cardiologist and Hospital charges. Still alot of money but I was grateful for the result.

[Toucano]

5. Too bad Dad couldn't shop around

for the best price before the procedure.

Remember this is the number one flaw of their "market-driven" medical care theory: The consumer has no ability to negotiate the best deal so the market drives nothing.

Think of the thrill we could have if they market-driven forces win. It would be like the pleasure of buying a car combined with a joy of choosing a cell phone company.

Of course, you have to know trade secrets like you get the best prices if you book your operation two weeks in advance, schedule it for a Tuesday and have a Saturday night stay.

[depakid]

8. Too bad he couldn't around shop for the best mortality rate!

Even more important than prices are outcomes. At least when you buy a car, with a little research you can find out whether it's a lemon.

That kind of information isn't easy to come by when searching for a physician, clinic or hospital. Asuming that you even have much choice in the matter.

[Q3JR4]

3. A family member of mine

was in a bad accident about a year ago and the total bill for everything they did for him reached about $500,000.

Good thing California had a very good CHIP program.

Now he's back in Idaho looking to get two other operations he needs (which are going to hit over $50,000). Luckily, the state is going to pick up the tab for 80% of it.


After the first bill, my parents thought that it was time for all of us to immigrate to Canada. :P

[Sandpiper]

4. Big dog tried to give it to us

But got sold out by a number of gutless dems in congress.

[KT2000]

6. Where I live

the only hospital is quite aggressive in collecting on their bills. Have heard if you own a house - its theirs.

I am thinking about getting an Alert bracelet that says "Do Not Treat" surviving to be homeless does not sound OK.

"Last in" mothers with children are being kicked out of Section 8 housing due to Bush's cuts where I live too.

There are many different americas.

[Cleita]

15. This is why we need NHC. People shouldn't have to lose everything

they have worked for just because they got sick. If we pooled our health care dollars for NHC instead of the wasteful privatized insurance and HMO system we have now, everyone could get good coverage and health care providers could concentrate on giving health care not on getting paid.

[amjsjc]

7. Thanks all

He's 64 so he's on medicare, fortunately, but I shudder to think of what would've transpired had he been ten years younger and uninsured.

[Deja Q]

9. The price of life. Sick, isn't it? I thought Republicans valued life...

Oh, they put a value on it (albeit a monetary value), make living conditions shit for those of us living, and act like utter facists to women who carry the unborn lives... Rush Limbaugh did a parody of Clinton's health care in 1994 called "Womb to the Tomb". Well, "Womb to the Delivery Room" is the perfect retort for these anti-life bastards.

[madrchsod]

10. i had three of them

two at a local hospital and one at mayo clinic plus throw in rehab and office visits and scans..never saw a bill,my insurance and my wife`s pick up the entire bill..must have been over a hundred thousand...yes if i didn`t have insurance i couldn`t afford my house...

[donhakman]

11. The new ones are nearly permanent

They have put an anti coagulant drug on a stint that remains in place.

Such intra vessel tubes can even have a screen in them and placed in the carotid rok so a blood clot wold go to the fface and not the brain.

The advances in the last 6 years have been remarkable.

[mistertrickster]

12. That's enough to give somebody a heart attack! Yeah, I know,

bad joke in poor taste. But I have limited humor skills . . .

[kcwayne]

13. 15 Grand for 4 days of observation

My father was picked up driving the wrong way down an interstate in a state of dementia. He was put into a elderly care unit of a hospital and had one short visit a day from a psychiatrist, and otherwise just fed and provided a place to sleep.

They billed 15,000 for the service.

On top of national health care, we need to change the culture of doctors and hospital institutions that will never subject themselves to free market competition, and fix pricing for medical services to absurd levels.

[Cleita]

14. Just make sure his insurance doesn't try to deny the bill for

a technicality.